15133 research outputs found
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Mapping Queerness in Times of Uncertainty: Stories of Struggle, Invisibility and Space
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/all_books/1739/thumbnail.jp
A Tale of Two Asters: Resolving the Plant and Microbial Community Structure of an Invasive and Native Forb
Get PDFOld fields dominated by flowering forbs are frequent targets for ecological restoration, particularly because they are often inhabited by invasive species whose ecological effects remain context dependent and widely debated. While native plants are typically favored in restoration efforts, and invasive species viewed as threats to biodiversity, such classifications may oversimplify ecological function. This study investigates two dominant genera of the Asteraceae family —Centaurea stoebe (L) (non-native) and Solidago spp. (S. rugosa and S. canadensis, both native)—to examine whether biogeographic origin or ecological strategy more strongly influences their impact on above and below ground community structure. Despite their contrasting origins, C. stoebe and Solidago supported similar aboveground plant communities and bulk soil microbial assemblages. However, in rhizospheric soils, both bacterial and fungal communities diverged significantly between the two species. These findings suggest that while functional roles may overlap—particularly in terms of nutrient cycling—the microbial associations of each species remain taxonomically distinct. This divergence underscores the importance of evolutionary history in shaping plant–microbe interactions, even among ecologically analogous species
The Impact of On-Campus and Off-Campus Employment on College Students\u27 Leadership Development
Get PDFThis study examines the impact of on-campus and off-campus employment on college students’ leadership development, focusing on three proximal indices: leader self-efficacy (LSE), motivation to lead (MTL), and leader identity. Drawing from the Hexagon Theory of leadership, the study utilized secondary longitudinal data from a sample of students enrolled in leadership development programs across five universities, tracked over six years from freshman year through two years post-college. A series of two-step linear regressions were conducted to assess the predictive value of employment type on each leadership construct. Results revealed that neither on-campus nor off-campus employment significantly predicted LSE, MTL, or leader identity at the final time point. Despite the lack of statistically significant findings, the study offers valuable insights into the nuanced role of employment experiences in student leadership development. The results suggest that how students engage with and make meaning of their work roles may be just as important as the roles themselves in fostering leadership development
Inversion Numbers of Oriented Graphs
Get PDFThis thesis investigates recent results and conjectures regarding inversion numbers of oriented graphs. We define the inversion number of an oriented graph G as the minimum size of a decycling family of subsets of vertices of G. We focus on three areas: the maximum inversion number of a graph on n vertices, the inversion numbers of dijoins of two oriented graphs, and computational algorithms for deciding the inversion number. The main contribution of this thesis is a proposed construction of a graph with higher inversion number than that of any other currently known construction. We also provide explicit, rather than asymptotic, bounds on the inversion numbers of graphs up to 11 vertices
Berman, Matthew L. Interview 14 April 2025
Get PDFIn this IAPC Oral History Interview, Mathew Matt L. Berman describes his experience as a student in the Masters of Arts in Teaching Philosophy for Children program at Montclair State College in the 1980s, his use of philosophy as a teacher at the Metairie Park Country Day School in Metairie, Louisiana, and the database of Philosophy and Children’s Literature he created during his 1989 sabbatical funded by the “Teacher-Scholar Program for Elementary and Secondary School Teachers,” awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_oral_histories/1000/thumbnail.jp
Snail Right Heart
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_picturebook_gallery/1039/thumbnail.jp
Dead Bird 2
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_picturebook_gallery/1042/thumbnail.jp
How Theatre of the Oppressed Helps White Teachers Understand Race: Moving from Color-Blind to Color-Sight
Get PDFThe growth of teachers of Color in American classrooms has not kept pace with the growth of students of Color. While the percentage of White teachers versus teachers of Color has held relatively steady at approximately 80 percent White teachers to 20 percent teachers of Color for four decades, there has been a dramatic shift from approximately 80 percent White students and 20 percent students of Color in the 1980s to a majority-minority status for White students. There is strong evidence that this lack of alignment in racial, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds between the nation’s teaching force and our student population has resulted in great harm to those who have continuingly been marginalized by much of American society. Based on Paulo Freire’s (1970/2015, 1974/2018) work on Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal’s (1979/2008) Theatre of the Oppressed was developed to help generate transformational awareness of, and action against, forms of oppression. This study will focus on the experiences of four White in-service high school teachers and how TO helped them to become more racially conscious and culturally relevant teachers for their students of Color
Ex-Gaussian Analysis of Inhibition in Chronic Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
Get PDFTraumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs following injury to head, resulting in disruption of normal brain functioning. During the chronic stages (greater than one year postinjury), those with TBI may experience ongoing symptoms. Executive dysfunction, including inhibition, is often seen. Neuropsychological measures of inhibition applied in basic research utilize response time across several trials, where participants complete trials with and without inhibitory control. Refined measurement approaches include trial-by-trial performance to capture response time inconsistencies or variability within the subject, known as intraindividual variability. Typical methods of measuring intraindividual variability violate statistical assumptions given that response time distributions are positively skewed. One alternative method includes applying an ex-Gaussian distribution analysis to the response time curve that decomposes and provides information regarding the shape of the response time distribution, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of response time patterns. The current investigation aimed to understand the mechanisms that underlie inhibition in chronic moderate-severe TBI compared to healthy controls utilizing ex-Gaussian parameter estimates. Additionally, the study aimed to identify structural neural correlates of these parameter estimates. Results indicate more overall slowing and more extremely slow responses in incongruent trials compared to congruent trials. Ex-Gaussian parameter estimates were not significantly different between chronic moderate-severe TBI and healthy controls, suggesting impairments may improve over time. Overall slowing was associated with several areas in the frontal regions of the brain that are often related to inhibitory control in chronic moderate-severe TBI. Findings provide considerations into utilizing math modeling in analyzing inhibition within chronic moderate-severe TBI
Ann Petry\u27s The Street: The Tragedy Within American Patriarchy
No full textThe Street by Ann Petry, set in Harlem in the late 1940s after World War II, reveals the socioeconomic barriers that shaped the lives of Black women. Petry’s experiences in Harlem shaped her portrayal of characters such as Lutie Johnson, Mrs. Hedges, Min, and Mary. Utilizing them, she reveals how race, gender, and class intersect to confine Black women to cycles of oppression. This marginalization is embedded in the historical context of the Great Migration, when an influx of Black Americans moved north in search of better economic and housing opportunities. However, many of the inequalities they sought to escape reappeared in new forms in the North. To establish the historical foundation of the novel, I will demonstrate how institutionalized subjugation limited employment and housing opportunities for women of color in the postwar era—conditions mirrored in Lutie’s narrative. Additionally shown is how the restricted job market for Black men forced Black women into low-wage labor, perpetuating cycles of poverty. The housing crisis in Harlem, shaped by redlining and urban decay, further contributed to the lack of educational opportunities for Black children. Petry’s portrayal of Lutie and her son Bub depicts the real-life systemic disadvantages they face, illustrating how institutional barriers obstruct social mobility. Moreover, Petry critiques the dehumanization of Black women, particularly through Mrs. Hedges, whose survival depends on her complicity with the white patriarchy. Using Freud’s concept of the uncanny, it becomes apparent that her physicality both enables and limits her social and economic mobility, thereby reinforcing cycles of Black female suppression. Finally, the novel expands on W. E. B. Du Bois’s double consciousness theory, anticipating Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality. I build on these frameworks to introduce the concept of “triad consciousness,” which encompasses the intersecting identities of race, gender, womanhood and/or motherhood, constituting the heterogeneous, complex fabric of the female consciousness. Ultimately, The Street dismantles the illusion of the American Dream for Black individuals, exposing how power structures—economic, gendered, and social—corrupt the very ideals they claim to uphold. Petry’s vivid description of 116th Street Harlem serves as a testament of the systemic forces that trap not only Lutie but also the passive spectators who witness her struggle, making the novel both a personal and collective critique of American racial, gendered, and economic injustices